There is only one truth: there is no truth. Truth requires meaning; the multiverse isn’t meant to possess meaning. Meaning is a construct made by small minds incapable of dealing with the truth. To actively search for meaning, the Bleakers claim, is to actively seek madness. Thus, pain and suffering (and their easements) are the universal facts governing life. The Bleakers accept this as easily as they do their own mortality.The Bleakers find comfort in their pain, showing they’re still alive. They also know there are ways to relief and release. Though many disagree with this view, the Bleakers have shown that they stem the tide of melancholy for those few they can reach before they can drown. Their mantra, “Everything is meaningless,” comes from this despairing way of life as reflected through the eyes of those who come to them for aid. How do you keep faith in the intelligent beings when they can’t let go of foolish hopes that bring them into your care? Everyone will eventually go insane, including you, if they don’t surrender their hopes.One minute, you see great beauty, the next, savage brutality. Search for your own meaning to keep such extremes at bay. Give in without surrendering to the madness. A Bleaker can’t tell you what to do, he can only offer you his condolences as he does everyone else. Everyone’s path is different, so we must all go alone on our journeys.Bleaker templates use all the base creature's statistics and special abilities unless noted otherwise.NamerBelief Point Cost: 1Special Attacks: None.Special Qualities: Namers gain the extraordinary ability Sheltered From Madness.Sheltered From Madness (Ex): Bleakers are so strong in their beliefs that even the lowliest namer gains a resistance to effects that try to induce mind-altering states. Though they are not immune to their own drawbacks as a member of their faction, Bleakers gain an effective SR 20 against mind-affecting spells.Saves: Same as the base creature.Abilities: +1 to Charisma every 2 levels.Skills: Same as the base creature.Feats: Same as the base creature.Drawbacks: Daily melancholy check, Madness Rating +1d6 gained every level thereafter, futility roll, life span shortened.Melancholy check: The Bleaker must roll a d20 at the start of every day. A 20 indicates that the Bleaker falls into a fit of melancholia. The character must be philosophically convinced to take action. If he can’t be convinced to act, the Bleaker won’t even raise arms to help a comrade overwhelmed by his opponent. Conversely, if the Bleaker rolls a 1, he becomes manically euphoric. The condition can bring on a messiah complex in some characters as they freely associate with others and do what they can to aid and comfort everyone around them.Madness Rating: Bleakers grow increasingly mad with each passing level. The DM secretly rolls a 1d6 when the character becomes a namer and again for every level gained after becoming a Bleaker. This is a madness of the character’s own making and can be quite disconcerting to observers.Futility roll: Along with the melancholy check, the Bleaker must make a Will save against futility. If the character fails the roll three days in a row, or five days in a single month, could be considered for a brief confinement to the Mad Bleaker wing of the Gatehouse. If the character decides to postpone committing himself and the next result of the futility check is a 1 or a 20, the Bleaker goes insane and remains in that stat until taken to the Gatehouse for treatment.Shortened life span: Unfortunately for the Bleakers, their lives are shorter than other factioneers. Humans suffer a mere loss of 5 years, halflings 10 years; 25 years for gnomes and half-elves; and 50-100 years for elves. Dwarves and half-orcs are unaffected for reasons unknown.Climate/Terrain: Same as the base creature.Organization: Same as the base creature.Challenge Rating: Up to 3 HD, same as the base creature.3 HD to 7 HD, same as the base creature +1.8+ HD, same as the base creature +2.Treasure: Same as the base creature.Alignment: Same as the base creature.Advancement: Same as the base creature.FactotumBelief Point Cost: 10Special Attacks: None.Special Qualities: Namers gain the extraordinary ability Sheltered From Madness and Absorb Artificial Madness.Sheltered From Madness (Sp): Factotums gain an effective SR 30 against mind-affecting spells.Absorb Artificial Madness (Sp): Factotums lean the spell-like ability to absorb the madness inflicted on others through spells and magic items. The Bleaker must meditate for one hour to clear his mind (DC 25), if he fails, he can only attempt to absorb the victim’s madness one more time. The victim must be held still, forcibly or otherwise, while the Bleaker performs a ritualistic massage of the target’s head. The process eventually causes the victim’s body to go numb, which is the time the Bleaker absorbs the madness, taking 1d12+4 hours to complete. The ritual cannot be interrupted, or the Bleaker must start over, otherwise success is guaranteed. The victim regains full mental health, but the Bleaker suffers with the madness for 2 days as he sorts it out in his head.Saves: Same as the base creature.Abilities: +1 to Charisma every levelSkills: Same as the base creature.Feats: Same as the base creature.Drawbacks: Daily melancholy check, Madness Rating +2d4 gained every level, futility roll, life span shortened.Melancholy check: The Bleaker must roll a d20 at the start of every day. A 20 indicates that the Bleaker falls into a fit of melancholia. The character must be philosophically convinced to take action. However, the character gains a +2 to Sense Motive checks to resist such actions. If he can’t be convinced to act, the Bleaker won’t even raise arms to help a comrade overwhelmed by his opponent. Conversely, if the Bleaker rolls a 1, he becomes manically euphoric. The condition can bring on a messiah complex in some characters as they freely associate with others and do what they can to aid and comfort everyone around them.Madness Rating: Bleakers grow increasingly mad with each passing level. The DM secretly rolls a 2d4 when the character gains a level. This is a madness of the character’s own making and can be quite disconcerting to observers.Futility roll: Along with the melancholy check, the Bleaker must make a Will save against futility. If the character fails the roll three days in a row, or five days in a single month, could be considered for a brief confinement to the Mad Bleaker wing of the Gatehouse. If the character decides to postpone committing himself and the next result of the futility check is a 1 or a 20, the Bleaker goes insane and remains in that stat until taken to the Gatehouse for treatment.Shortened life span: Unfortunately for the Bleakers, their lives are shorter than other factioneers. Humans suffer the loss of 10 years, halflings 20 years; 50 years for gnomes and half-elves; and 100-200 years for elves. Dwarves and half-orcs are unaffected for reasons unknown.Climate/Terrain: Same as the base creature.Organization: Same as the base creature.Challenge Rating: Up to 3 HD, same as the base creature +1.3 HD to 7 HD, same as the base creature +2.8+ HD, same as the base creature +3.Treasure: Same as the base creature.Alignment: Same as the base creature.Advancement: Same as the base creature.FactorBelief Point Cost: 20Special Attacks: None.Special Qualities: Namers gain the extraordinary ability Sheltered From Madness and Absorb Artificial Madness.Sheltered From Madness (Su): Factotums gain an effective SR 35 against mind-affecting spells.Absorb Artificial Madness (Su): Factotums lean the spell-like ability to absorb the madness inflicted on others through spells and magic items. The Bleaker must meditate for one hour to clear his mind (DC 20), if he fails, he can only attempt to absorb the victim’s madness one more time. The victim must be held still, forcibly or otherwise, while the Bleaker performs a ritualistic massage of the target’s head. The process eventually causes the victim’s body to go numb, which is the time the Bleaker absorbs the madness, taking 1d12+4 hours to complete. The ritual cannot be interrupted, or the Bleaker must start over, otherwise success is guaranteed. The victim regains full mental health, but the Bleaker suffers with the madness for 2 days as he sorts it out in his head.Saves: Same as the base creature.Abilities: +3 to Charisma every 2 levelsSkills: Same as the base creature.Feats: Same as the base creature.Drawbacks: Daily melancholy check, Madness Rating +3d4 gained every level, futility roll, life span shortened.Melancholy check: The Bleaker must roll a d20 at the start of every day. A 20 indicates that the Bleaker falls into a fit of melancholia. The character must be philosophically convinced to take action. However, the character gains a +4 to Sense Motive checks to resist such actions. If he can’t be convinced to act, the Bleaker won’t even raise arms to help a comrade overwhelmed by his opponent. Conversely, if the Bleaker rolls a 1, he becomes manically euphoric. The condition can bring on a messiah complex in some characters as they freely associate with others and do what they can to aid and comfort everyone around them.Madness Rating: Bleakers grow increasingly mad with each passing level. The DM secretly rolls a 3d4 when the character gains a level. This is a madness of the character’s own making and can be quite disconcerting to observers.Futility roll: Along with the melancholy check, the Bleaker must make a Will save against futility. If the character fails the roll three days in a row, or five days in a single month, could be considered for a brief confinement to the Mad Bleaker wing of the Gatehouse. If the character decides to postpone committing himself and the next result of the futility check is a 1 or a 20, the Bleaker goes insane and remains in that stat until taken to the Gatehouse for treatment.Shortened life span: Unfortunately for the Bleakers, their lives are shorter than other factioneers. Humans suffer the loss of 20 years, halflings 40 years; 100 years for gnomes and half-elves; and 200-400 years for elves. Dwarves and half-orcs are unaffected for reasons unknown.Climate/Terrain: Same as the base creature.Organization: Same as the base creature.Challenge Rating: Up to 3 HD, same as the base creature +3.3 HD to 7 HD, same as the base creature +4.8+ HD, same as the base creature +5.Treasure: Same as the base creature.Alignment: Same as the base creature.Advancement: Same as the base creature.FactolBelief Point Cost: 30Special Attacks: None.Special Qualities: Namers gain the extraordinary ability Sheltered From Madness and Absorb Artificial Madness.Sheltered From Madness (Su): Factotums gain an effective SR 40 against mind-affecting spells.Absorb Artificial Madness (Su): Factotums lean the spell-like ability to absorb the madness inflicted on others through spells and magic items. The Bleaker must meditate for one hour to clear his mind (DC 15), if he fails, he can only attempt to absorb the victim’s madness one more time. The victim must be held still, forcibly or otherwise, while the Bleaker performs a ritualistic massage of the target’s head. The process eventually causes the victim’s body to go numb, which is the time the Bleaker absorbs the madness, taking 1d12+4 hours to complete. The ritual cannot be interrupted, or the Bleaker must start over, otherwise success is guaranteed. The victim regains full mental health, but the Bleaker suffers with the madness for 2 days as he sorts it out in his head.Saves: Same as the base creature.Abilities: +2 to Charisma every levelSkills: Same as the base creature.Feats: Same as the base creature.Drawbacks: Daily melancholy check, Madness Rating +4d4 gained every level, futility roll, life span shortened.Melancholy check: The Bleaker must roll a d20 at the start of every day. A 20 indicates that the Bleaker falls into a fit of melancholia. The character must be philosophically convinced to take action. However, the character gains a +6 to Sense Motive checks to resist such actions. If he can’t be convinced to act, the Bleaker won’t even raise arms to help a comrade overwhelmed by his opponent. Conversely, if the Bleaker rolls a 1, he becomes manically euphoric. The condition can bring on a messiah complex in some characters as they freely associate with others and do what they can to aid and comfort everyone around them.Madness Rating: Bleakers grow increasingly mad with each passing level. The DM secretly rolls a 4d4 when the character gains a level. This is a madness of the character’s own making and can be quite disconcerting to observers.Futility roll: Along with the melancholy check, the Bleaker must make a Will save against futility. If the character fails the roll three days in a row, or five days in a single month, could be considered for a brief confinement to the Mad Bleaker wing of the Gatehouse. If the character decides to postpone committing himself and the next result of the futility check is a 1 or a 20, the Bleaker goes insane and remains in that stat until taken to the Gatehouse for treatment.Shortened life span: Unfortunately for the Bleakers, their lives are shorter than other factioneers. Humans suffer the loss of 40 years, halflings 80 years; 200 years for gnomes and half-elves; and 400-800 years for elves. Dwarves and half-orcs are unaffected for reasons unknown.Climate/Terrain: Same as the base creature.Organization: Same as the base creature.Challenge Rating: Up to 3 HD, same as the base creature +4.3 HD to 7 HD, same as the base creature +5.8+ HD, same as the base creature +6.Treasure: Same as the base creature.Alignment: Same as the base creature.Advancement: Same as the base creature.The LadlesSome may find it amusing that the Bleakers have divisions within their own faction. True, they believe that beliefs have no meaning, but that doesn’t mean that they agree on the best way to handle the situation. The ladles are a perfect example of that. In effect, the ladles act as a union of sorts. They are the ones who oversee the soup kitchens the faction run and are quite vocal about any changes to operating policies.The ladles take their jobs seriously. After all, if they didn’t say anything as to how their jobs were to be performed in the soup kitchens, someone else would dictate what they cook and to whom they served meals. The true purpose of this group is to serve as a mouthpiece to the factol as to the state of the kitchens and what improvements they would like to see implemented in the menus and staffing.The MelancholarmonicaIf the bleaknik performers weren’t bad enough, there’s actually an arm of the Bleakers that serves as a guild of sorts. The group’s true purpose seems to be for depressing the multiverse even more than what their presence has already caused. In actuality, the Melancholarmonica’s function is to help teach bleakniks new techniques in their “art” as well as for sharing new pieces.Occasionally, the Melancholarmonica appears together in an ensemble. These orchestral gatherings are known for their impressive sound. Unfortunately, it’s superbly depressing. Thankfully – for the rest of the multiverse – these concerts of ultimate depression are rare. Whether the Melancholarmonica’s performance is in an amphitheater or a procession, it’s said that these gatherings have increased the suicide rates within a mile of the performance.The GatekeepersSomeone has to watch over the loonies. If there’s one arm of the Bleakers that the multiverse is thankful for, it’s this bunch. The Gatekeepers comprise the majority of the permanent staff that oversees the daily tasks of running the Gatehouse. Most of the members of this group rarely venture outside the Gatehouse for extended periods of time and fewer still go on adventures.In addition to overseeing the Gatehouse, the Gatekeepers have several lesser-known madhouses spread about the city of Sigil and a good handful or two known elsewhere around the multiverse. The Gatekeepers are rumored to have a few hidden madhouses in Bedlam and Windglum though no one has been able to prove such tales.Why: As part of the templates I'm using to run a pre-FW campaign and to provide interesting characters post-FW with "relic" feats and PrCs.Pro: It allows for the play of the Bleakers pre- and post- Faction War.Con: Only if they can't stand the depression of the Bleakers.
This material is untested in a lot of ways. I don't know how effective the templates are because I've never had a chance to use them.
As for the Charisma bonuses, I tried to make them as incremental as possible without taking away from the original feel of the faction. One of the balancing factors I tried to employ was the shortened lifespan. Any fixes would be appreciated.
As for the Charisma bonuses, I tried to make them as incremental as possible without taking away from the original feel of the faction. One of the balancing factors I tried to employ was the shortened lifespan. Any fixes would be appreciated.
Shortened lifespan does very little. Unless the span is shortened into the actual play time of the campaign (Two to Four years gametime for every year realtime in my experiance) it isn't that much of a disadvantage other than possably a worry if the character gets hit with an aging effect, but those effects are pretty rare. Otherwise there is no drawback in actual game play.
Got another suggestion? The Charisma bonus is based on the descriptions from the Factol's Manifesto.
It is still overpowered. Stat points are really hard to get and this gives a major advantage with out any real expedeture on the characters part.
It is still overpowered. Stat points are really hard to get and this gives a major advantage with out any real expedeture on the characters part.
You mean more so than the random mood swings and the ever-accruing Madness Rating?
The madness is not overpowering in any way. Like you said, it includes a pretty hefty disadvantage with some small advantages. +2 Charisma per level, however, is a huge advantage.
Have you read my madness rules?
They probably haven't, so you may want to include a link for them to review those - though this is a question - when in play with those rules: How far do you allow a player to go under before the character becomes essentially unplayable? It reminds me of taint/humanity scores in White Wolf's systems - where once a character goes *too* insane then they effectively become NPCs (or the players may become tired of playing Mr. Drools-On-The-Table - which is about the same thing). I'm just curious if you've gotten to playtest the madness rules over time and seen how it acts out in game. It might be that using them to balance this feat may be too hard on a player to want to play, which is sorta the point of the game - to still encourage players to play - so I wanted to find out if you'd seen it in action any.
As for the bonues - when over time they come out to a better bonus than an epic level item long before the character would *find* said item. (And the bonus is stackable *with* such item if they find it?) It probably does need to be cut down or moved into some other aspect that reflects the same concept (bonuses to skills? maybe a more spread out curve of charisma bonuses?). Even with wish and tome items a normal player can only manage to get a +5 to their stat over their entire existance.
As for the bonues - when over time they come out to a better bonus than an epic level item long before the character would *find* said item. (And the bonus is stackable *with* such item if they find it?) It probably does need to be cut down or moved into some other aspect that reflects the same concept (bonuses to skills? maybe a more spread out curve of charisma bonuses?). Even with wish and tome items a normal player can only manage to get a +5 to their stat over their entire existance.
If the madness rules were good enough for WotC to write for WoT, which I even go so far as to state as my main reference, then I would assume the playtesting was done by WotC staff. The majority of my write up is in my own words using their mechanics, where possible. All other text comes from WoT with situational modifiers supplied by Ravenloft d20 mechanics for fear/madness/horror checks. The text was mine, the numbers were someone else's.
Uhm. +1 cha per every 2 character levels? That is really overpowered considering how HARD it is to raise a stat otherwise. Only epic characters have even a chance of being able to boost their stats at compareable rates.
The idea of purchasing rank within a faction with belief points is quite clever (is that original?), but some of the charisma bonuses do seem a little overpowered. Like the sub-factions too.